Captain Lizzie Gladman, a second year physiotherapy student from Warrington, said: “Playing the warm-up last week gave people an idea of how it’s going to be as a team.

“We’ve got two games coming up against them in the season now we’ve gone up, so hopefully it’ll be a bit closer than it was last year and we’ll get the win.”

Hungarian international and MMU Sports Scholar Fanni Kiss, 21, has joined the team for their 2017/18 season. Originally from Székesfehérvár, a town outside of Budapest, she is completing a foundation year in sports management

"I think it’s a big chance for the women’s team, because we hope there will be a lot of people coming to watch,” she said.

But even with the added pressure of moving to a tougher league, the girls are keen to encourage more people to take up the sport.

Second year criminology student and team chairwoman Flora Shepherd said: “Hopefully, people will come down and be inspired to give women’s rugby a go. Obviously they see it’s quite a terrifying thing on paper but in reality it’s just good fun.”

Kick off for the women’s game is at 5.30pm and the men start at 7pm. Tickets – price just £5 - are selling fast, with a crowd expected at the AJ Bell in the region of 5,000.

Interest in the women’s game is building quickly.

“Already this year’s been more successful than previously,” said Lizzie.

“We had more than 40 women training last week, with quite a split between people who have played before and people who hadn’t.”